Air Force Senior Airman Lanea Trevino, a command post controller with the 379th Air Expeditionary Wing in Southwest Asia, prevented a tragedy when she acted quickly to help a female comrade who collapsed from dehydration. U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Nathanael Callon

Department of Defense
By Air Force Senior Airman Michael Charles
379th Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs

While preparing for her night shift, Air Force Senior Airman Lanea Trevino noticed something odd about the shower stall next to hers.

The shower supplies, visible through the half-opened curtain, had remained untouched for the entire time she had been there.

“It was strange,” Trevino said. “I had seen nobody else in the facility so it was odd that an entire set of supplies would be left.”
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U.S. Air Force Master Sgt. Roberto Gutierrez, an independent duty medical technician from the 386th Expeditionary Operations Support Squadron, listens to a patient's lungs May 1, 2010, at an air base here. There are fewer than 500 IDMTs in the Air Force, and they are often assigned to flying units or organizations in isolated locations to tend to the units' medical needs. (U.S. Air Force photo by Capt. Joe Campbell/Released)

There aren’t enough physicians in the Air Force to be placed everywhere they may be needed; however, Airmen in certain career fields can perform limited medical treatment in their stead.

Independent duty medical technicians like Master Sgt. Roberto Gutierrez from the 386th Expeditionary Operations Support Squadron, here, are often attached to units in isolated locations to tend to the units’ medical needs.

“Since there are fewer than 500 of us [IDMTs] in the Air Force, most folks have not even heard of us,” said Gutierrez. “We are usually attached to flying units or other units that deploy in remote and austere locations.”

While a member of a small-in-number career field, Gutierrez provides a variety of critical services to his unit, performing numerous jobs to support the mission.

“We are physician extenders and force multipliers capable of providing different aspects of medicine with a small footprint,” he said. “I have multiple jobs here; IDMTs are like a hospital in a package. I treat patients, do sick call, immunizations, dental, bio-environmental duties such as checking water quality, public health inspections of eateries [on base] and the dining hall.”

Deployed from Yokota Air Base, Japan, the Manila, Philippines, native said there are some aspects of being an IDMT at a deployed location that differ from his job in garrison. There, he does a lot of training; here, he puts those skills to work.

“Being a part of a squadron medical element at home station, we train constantly under the supervision of our medical preceptor. We have functional area trainers who ensure we are on top of our game so that we are proficient in all aspects of the job when it comes to medicine and environmental sanitation,” he said.

A typical day here in the U.S. Air Forces Central Command area of responsibility for Gutierrez includes following up on patients at the expeditionary medical support unit and gathering supplies.

“My day starts out by visiting EMEDs to check for any patients seen after hours and also to pickup needed supplies,” said Gutierrez, a 22-year Air Force veteran. “We keep close tabs on our patients, especially the aircrew, to ensure they are fit-to-fly to accomplish the mission. We see a variety of medical conditions just like in EMEDs, but with the convenience [for patients] of being close to the flightline.”

Gutierrez said to be successful, IDMTs cannot be shy or afraid to tackle differing aspects of the healthcare profession. Additionally, an IDMT must be able to work independently.

“Most essential to successful mission accomplishment here is ensuring personnel are in the best health and condition possible,” he said. “I enjoy interacting with people and being involved in their medical care. It is challenging to learn different aspects of the operations world, but I have to be in touch with patients and familiar with their jobs and duties so I may better care for them.”

The senior NCO enjoys deploying, and he’s had numerous deployments in his career. But he said this one is among his best because of all the quality of life initiatives available here.

“I love deployments, and each one is unique. I love the fact that I bring my specialty to the fight,” said Gutierrez. “This deployment surely has been my best so far. The quality of life here is outstanding; we have a great dining hall and best of all, we have DawgNet [Internet] available 24/7.”

Like many Airmen stationed at “The Rock,” Gutierrez spends much of his downtime working out. Ever the medical professional, he had a few bits of advice for good health in the AOR.

“Wash your hands and hydrate,” he said.

DVIDS

March Air Reserve Base in California has become a staging area for relief workers and search and rescue teams to assemble supplies, personnel and equipment Jan. 13, 2010, following the Jan. 12, 2010, magnitude-7.0 earthquake in Haiti. Personnel and supplies will be loaded onto a U.S. Air Force C-17 Globemaster III aircraft and flown into Port-au-Prince, Haiti. The aircraft is assigned to the 60th Air Wing, Travis Air Force Base, Calif., and will arrive in Haiti Jan. 14, 2010. (U.S. Air Force photo by Master Sgt. Roy Santana)

Air Force Special Operations on the ground in Haiti

Airmen and C-130s from the Air Force Special Operations Command are continuing to provide disaster relief to the people of Haiti.

MC-130H Combat Talons and a C-130E Hercules from the 1st Special Operations Wing here landed in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, overnight and already have left the area for additional support taskings. The wing will continue to support requirements, as additional aircraft such as MC-130P Combat Shadows are en route carrying people and equipment.

In addition, two MC-130W Combat Spears from the 27th Special Operations Wing at Cannon Air Force Base, N.M., are positioned here for additional support requirements. The aircraft are transporting equipment such as generators, vehicles, fuel, food and water, and communications packages, as well as specialty teams including special operations medical units and special tactics teams.

Paras land to assist Haiti

An initial contingent of 100 82nd Airborne Division troops deployed to Haiti around noon Jan. 14, and another 800 Soldiers will follow tomorrow to support disaster relief and humanitarian support.

A lead element from Bravo Company, 1st Battalion, 73rd Infantry, left Fort Bragg today, and the entire battalion, along with a command and control element from the division’s 2nd Brigade Combat Team, will join them Jan. 15, said Army Col. Billy Buckner, 18th Airborne Corps public affairs officer.

Meanwhile, the 82nd Airborne Division’s entire 2nd Brigade Combat Team – on tap as the U.S. global response force – “has been told to be prepared to deploy as needed or required,” Buckner said.

“So they are prepped and ready to deploy. They have done all the things they need to do to get ready,” Buckner said. “And should they be directed to deploy, based on the situation on the ground and additional resources, they are ready to do so.”

As the global response force, the 2nd BCT is on 24/7 standby, ready to deploy anywhere in the world within 18 hours. In that capacity, it trains for the full spectrum of missions – from forcible entry scenarios and follow-on stability operations to humanitarian aid and disaster response, Buckner said.

So when the first verbal order to prepare a brigade to deploy came at 4 a.m. yesterday, he added, most of the groundwork already was laid.

The initial elements are deploying with their own individual equipment and force-protection capability, but few vehicles, Buckner said. “A lot of logistics planning is being done, based on what’s in the theater,” he said. “But right now, the big push is the soldiers, going in relatively light without a lot of rolling stock.”

Once in Haiti, their mission will center on humanitarian support and disaster relief, but Buckner said the soldiers also could provide security, if needed.

“They bring an ability to provide people to go out and assist immediately, to get on the ground very rapidly and to be able to assist the [joint task force] commander in whatever tasks and requirements he needs them to perform,” he said.

Many of the deploying soldiers have served tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, giving them experience Buckner said will prove invaluable supporting the Haiti mission. “They are used to deploying, and they are used to operating under very difficult and challenging circumstances,” he said.

A member of the Federal Emergency Management Agency's Virginia Task Force 2 Urban search and Rescue watches as civilians put cargo netting over the equipment that the task force is bringing with them to do their mission in Port Au Prince, Haiti. More than 80 members of the task force are being deployed to support rescue efforts there. Photo by Petty Officer 1st Class Tim Comerford

It’s a little after noon, Jan. 14 and it’s already been a long day for Battalion Chief Donald Washburn, Dam Neck Annex. He and two others from the Mid-Atlantic fire fighting team were activated as part of the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Virginia Task Force 2, urban search and rescue, to deploy to Haiti.

“I got a call last night around 11:30 and I didn’t know until two or three in the morning if I was actually going,” Washburn said. “We are waiting on aircraft until we can go.”

Since then, he and more than 80 firefighters from the Hampton Roads area have been busy gathering and loading equipment onto palettes and securing them. Washburn said the long days of work are just beginning.

“We will be working every day; digging through rubble, shoring up structures, providing first-aid and doing whatever we can to help people out,” said Washburn, a veteran firefighter of 23 years.

Washburn said he feels that he is well prepared to handle the situation he is about to face. “I have pretty much specialized in technical rescues through out my whole career,” Washburn said.

And being a rescue technician is just what is needed for becoming part of the task force. Technical rescue refers to those aspects of saving life or property that employ the use of tools and skills that exceed those normally reserved for fire fighting, medical emergency, and rescue. These disciplines include rope rescue, swiftwater rescue, confined space rescue, ski rescue, cave rescue, trench/excavation rescue, and building collapse rescue, among others.

For Michael Scott, supervisory captain at Little Creek and Christopher Connelly, supervisory captain at NAS Oceana, this mission represents a culmination of years of training. “This is my first deployment, I have been on the team for about five or six years now and had a whole lot of training, I am ready to put it to use,” Scott said. “I have only been on the FEMA Team for two years and this is also my first deployment.”

The team brought everything they could think of. “We are bringing everything and the kitchen sink,” Connelly said. “Common tools like you have in your garage up to special breaching equipment and computer based search and rescue programs.”

But search is only one of their jobs, the other is rescue. “We are all trained up to [Advanced Life Support or paramedic] level and we bring everything that we would need for providing medical help for the people that we are rescuing as well as ourselves,” Connelly said.

They may need to give medical help to their fellows if a structure collapses on a searcher, but they trust in their teammates to keep them safe. “We have structural specialists that come with us. They do a risk management analysis and let us know what is safe and not safe or tell us what to do in order to make it safe,” Scott said.

But all of them are looking forward to helping. “I am 100 percent excited, I’m looking forward to using the skills we learned in training,” Connelly said.

“We are ready to go. This is something we like to do, we like to help out,” Washburn added.

“Without a shadow of a doubt,” Scott agreed.

Air Force Capt. Maureen Wood, right, stands with fellow legal officer Air Force Capt. Jaime Espinosa prior to a mission in Iraq. U.S. Air Force photo

The increase of troops into the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility also is increasing the nontraditional roles filled by airmen in combat, a product of the Air Force’s “all in” philosophy.

Air Force Capt. Maureen Wood, a legal officer deployed with Multinational Force Iraq’s Joint Task Force 134, recently found herself in one of those situations that was anything but “traditional.” She helped to save a life of a fellow servicemember using self-aid and buddy care after her convoy was attacked by an improvised explosive device.

On Aug. 21, while on a convoy in Iraq, the mine-resistant, ambush-protected vehicle Wood was riding in, along with several other Army and Air Force personnel, was struck by a roadside bomb designed to penetrate armor and release shrapnel in all directions.

Her head was thrown back from the explosion, and smoke entered the vehicle. While doing a quick self-check, Wood said, she felt a large knot on her forehead and another on her left hand. She would later find out the “bumps” were shrapnel lodged in her skin.

“I found myself trying to figure out what had just happened, what was going on,” she said. “I saw [Capt. Wendy Kosek] in front of me with a gash across her jaw line. Next to me was an Army major who was yelling that he couldn’t feel his legs.”

Glancing over at the major, she said, she noticed his foot was turned up at the shin.

Wood said she unbuckled herself and went to help. Her goal was to keep him from going into shock. The medic was there quickly, and a tourniquet was placed on his leg.

Wood attributes her actions and calm demeanor on that day to the advanced contingency skills training she received at the U.S. Air Force Expeditionary Center at Joint Base McGuire-Dix in Lakehurst, N.J.

“Many people may find themselves saying or thinking this stuff won’t apply to them, because they are going to be at a ‘desk job’ in some building somewhere,” Wood said. “Every passenger in our MRAP that day was assigned to ‘desk jobs.’”

Her training at the expeditionary center prepared Wood to react instinctively in the aftermath of the attack, she said.

“We learned by repetition,” she explained. “Everything we were trained on was repeated until we reacted without thinking. We were also trained on the fog of war and reacting under pressure, which helped tremendously during the attack.”

The MRAP was disabled in the blast. The injured servicemembers needed to be loaded into the casualty evacuation vehicle. “We were grabbing the injured troops by parts of their uniform, the way we were shown in training,” Wood said, “lifting and moving them into the vehicle accordingly.”

Kosek, a fellow legal officer, was more severely injured in that attack, receiving shrapnel to her face, hand and leg. With the help of the other servicemembers, she and the Army major were lifted out of the disabled vehicle onto the ground and guarded from secondary attacks.

As they continued the medical response, the Army major was loaded onto the floor of the casualty evacuation vehicle first. Kosek was next; to guard against further injury, she was moved and loaded using her belt.

Wood said she noticed the major’s leg was still bleeding. She was handed a bandage so she could attempt to dress his wound. Using knowledge from self-aid and buddy care, Wood said, she concluded that the color of the blood indicated it was not arterial bleeding. Bandaging the leg didn’t stop the bleeding, so she decided to use pressure.

Using the bandage, she pressed the major’s leg against hers to stabilize and secure his injuries.

“I wasn’t nervous or scared,” she said. “I was just reacting. It was a team effort that day. Everyone stayed calm. For the most part, it was like a well-oiled machine.”

Wood said her pre-deployment training was invaluable.

“Pre-deployment training teaches you the concept of the fog of war and explains the necessity of having muscle memory, and having the ability to react as needed when circumstances arise that make it difficult to think clearly,” she said. “So many people go to training thinking they don’t really need the training because they don’t think it applies to them.”

DoD
by Air Force Capt. Amber Balken
Air Mobility Command public affairs office

Staff Sgt. Jason Snow prepares to send a PACBOT to an incident site while local authorities look on. A local farmer contacted authorities when he found two 107mm rockets on a timer that were aimed at a coalition forward operating base. Sergeant Snow is deployed as an 755th Air Expeditionary Group robot operator. (U.S. Air Force photo/Master Sgt. Demetrius Lester)

This is very, very cool!